USA > Virginia > Henrico County > Henrico County > Annals of Henrico parish > Part 2
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13
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
in Dale's settlement, and had added as much more to his estate, so that it extended down to Four Mile Creek, on James river. Beside the Curle's plantation in this property, there was also in it one, nearer the falls, called Varina from the fact that its tobacco was supposed to have the same flavor as that of Varina in Spain. Next to the Varina plantation was the glebe of the parish, consisting of between 195 and 200 acres, which at an early date had taken the place of the one at Rock Hall, on the southern side of the James. The Hen- rico court-house, prison, etc., were near by. The situation was about where Rolfe had located his residence.
It appears from the first entry in this earliest vestry book that the minister then in charge of the parish was, as he is styled, The Reverend Mr. James Keith. On his ministerial staff he had three lay readers. The salary of each was 2,000 pounds of tobacco, or about twelve and a half pounds sterling, equivalent to some $60.50 in our money. Sometimes, how- ever, they were more "a thorn in the flesh" than a help. For in the minutes of the second meeting we read that the vestry "Ordered
"That Sackfield Brewer be appointed Reader in the Chap- ple, Richard Williams being absconded from his Duty therein."
October 12, 1733, Mr. Keith ceased to be minister of the parish.
About this time the Assembly considerably lessened the size of Henrico county and parish. Goochland was cut off in 1727. Powhatan was taken along with it as a part of the original Goochland. Dale parish, in Chesterfield, was set up by itself in 1735. At a meeting held on June 17, 1735, a temporary supply of the pulpit was arranged. The Rev. Zach Brook was to preach a day in every fifth week at the Falls Chapel, and the Rev. David Mossom every fifth Sunday at the Church. For this service they were to be allowed 400 pounds of tobacco, or about two and one-half pounds English money, per sermon. This Mr. Brook had been the first minister of St. Paul's, Hanover, and had labored in that charge as early as 1724 at least. Mr. Mossom was at this time rector of St. Peter's, New Kent, a position which he occupied from 1727 to his death, in 1767. In that capacity he married General
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HISTORY HENRICO PARISH,
Washington at the "White House," in St. Peter's Parish He came from Newburyport, Mass., and had the honor of being the first native American admitted to the presbyterate in the Church of England. This arrangement was continuec until the following September, when "The Revd mr. An- thony Gavin" appeared on the scene. He produced "a letter from the Honble William Gooch,
"Esqr, his Maj's Lieut. Governor of this Colony, and another from the Rev'd James Blair, Commissary, directed to the Church Wardens and Gent of the vestry, recommending the said Mr. Gavin to the Cure of this parish."
These letters were read ;
"and the Vestry being desirious of first hearing him performe the office of his Ministereal function," resolved to "Suspend their opinion as to his reception till after Sermon, when they" agreed "to meet again."
The trial sermon of this reverend candidate proved a suc- cess. For it is immediately afterward entered that-
"Whereas the Revd Anthony Gavin hath performed his office both in reading and preaching to the General Satis- faction and approbation of the Vestry, it is thereupon unani- mously agreed that he be received and entertained as minis- ter of this parish."
There is no note of Mr. Gavin's resignation in the vestry book. Bishop Meade says he served in Henrico only nine months. The Bishop pronounces him a zealous and laborious man, but very plain of speech. That latter trait of character, combined with the fact that he was opposed to slavery as "un- lawful for any Christian, and particularly for Clergymen," may account for his short incumbency. But we find him Rector of St. James', Goochland, August 5, 1738, and he con- tinued in that position until his death, in 1749.
On Sunday, the 18th of July, 1736, the Reverend William Stith, after having gone through the same process as his pre decessor, was received as Minister of the Parish. This Mr. Stith was the only son of Capt. John Stith, of Charles City, and the grandson, on his mother Mary's side, of William Randolph, of Turkey Island, Henrico. He was born in 1689. He received his academical education at the grammar school attached to William and Mary College. He pursued
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ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
his theological studies in England, and was ordained there. On his return to Virginia, in 1731, he had been elected Mas- ter of the Grammar School at Williamsburg, and Chaplain to the House of Burgesses. He married his cousin, Judith, daughter of Thomas Randolph, of Tuckahoe.
His salary as Minister of Henrico Parish was 16,000 pounds of tobacco, equivalent to 100 pounds sterling, or, in present money, $484.
It was during the ministry of Mr. Stith that the project of building a new church began to be agitated. It was a com- paratively easy thing in those days to build a church. The vestry had only to order a levy to secure the building fund. If any tithable person failed or delayed to make payment, the collector was empowered to distrain for the tax.
A new church somewhere in this locality was beginning to be a necessity, because of the increase of population here- abouts. Already Richmond was looming up on the horizon of the future as the town of the parish. The first action is recorded as follows :
"At a Vestry held at Curls* Church for Henrico parish ye 8th day of October Anno Dom. 1737 for laying ye parish Levey-
"The Vestry do agree to build a Church on the most Conve- nient place at or near
"Thomas Williamsons in this parish to be Sixty feet in Length and Twenty-five in
"Breadth and fourteen foot pitch to be finished in a plain Manner After the Moddle of
"Curls Church. And it is ordered that the Clerk do Set up Advertisements of the particular parts of the Said Build- ing and of the time and place of undertaking the Same. * * * *
"It is ordered that the Collector do receive of every Tithable person in this parish five
"pounds of Tobacco after the Usual deduction to be apply'd towards building the New Church at Williamsons."
Had the resolution been literally carried out, the new church would have been located on the Brook Road. Through some unaccountable reason the matter was dropped for nearly
*Elsewhere Curle.
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HISTORY HENRICO PARISH,
two years. Then we find the following entry upon the vestry book :
"At a vestry held at Curls Church for Henrico parish July ye 21st Ano Dom 1739
* * * * * *
"It is Ordered that the Church Wardens do give Notice and A Set up Advertisements at all publick
"places in this parish, that on the Second thursday in Octo- ber next, at Curls Church, will be
"held a vestry in order to let out the Building of the New Church, at which Time the parish Levy will be Laid."
Next appears the following record :
"At a Vestry held for Henrico parish on the Twentieth day of Decr Anno 1739
"It is agreed that a Church be Built on the most Convenient Spot of Ground near ye
"Spring on Richardsons Road, on the South Side of Bacons Branch, on the Land of
"The Honourable William Byrd Esq. to be Sixty feet Long and Twenty-five broad
"And fourteen feet pitch'd, to be finished in a plain manner after the
"Moddle of Curls-Church. Richard Randolph Gent under- takes the Said Building and engages to finish the Same by the Tenth day of June, which Shall be in the year of our Lord
"Seventeen hundred and forty-one; for which the Vestry agrees to pay him the
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"Sum of three hundred and Seventeen pounds Ten Shillings Current Money to be
"paid by the Ammount of the Sales of Twenty thousand pounds of Tob'o annually
"to be Levyd on the parish and Sold here for Money till the whole payment be compleat."
The contract price in United States figures was $1,536.70. An appropriation of 5,250 pounds gross tobacco had been made for this new enterprise out of the levy laid October 8. 1737. A levy of 20,000 pounds net tobacco had been laid October 11, 1739, for the new church. May 5, 1740, the vestry sold this last mentioned tobacco to Col. Richard Ran-
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ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
dolph at the rate of 10s. per hundred, current money. The only additional appropriation toward this object found on record was a levy of 20,000 pounds net tobacco, laid October 13, 1740.
But still another change in situation was necessitated.
"At a Vestry held for Henrico parish the 13 Day of October Anno Dom 1740.
"Richard Randolph Gentleman, produses a Letter Directed to him from the Honbl'e
"William Byrd, Esquie, which is read as followeth-viz: 'Sir-October 12th, 1740.
" 'I should with great pleasure, oblige the Vestry, and partic- ularly your Self, in granting
"them an Acre, to build their Church upon; but there are so many roads already thro that
"Land, that the Damage to me would be too great to have another of a mile long cut
"thro it. I should be very glad if you wou'd please to think Richmond a proper place,
"and considering the great number of people that live below it, and would pay their
"Devotions there, that wou'd not care to go so much higher I can't but think it wou'd be
"Agreeable to most of the people, and if they will agree to have it there, I will give them
"two of the best Lots, that are not taken up, and besides give them any pine Timber they
"can find on that side Shockhoe Creek, and Wood for burning of Bricks into the Bargain.
"I hope the Gen't of the Vestrey will believe me a Friend to the Church, when I make
"them this offer, and that I am both theirs -. Sir- and vour most Hum'l ser': W. Byrd.'
"Whereupon the Questian is put whither the said Church should be Built on the Hill caled Indian Town at Richmond, or at Thomas Williamsons plantation on the Brook Road, and is caryed by a Majority of Voices for the former.
"It is thereupon Ordered that the Church formerly Agreed on to be Built by
"Richard Randolph Gen : on the South side of Bacons Branch,
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HISTORY HENRICO PARISH,
be Built on Indian Town at Richmond, after the Same Man- ner as in the said Former Agreement was mentioned."
The allotment had been made in April, 1737. The two lots which Mr. Byrd gave for the church constitute the Grace street half of the present church yard. The Record Book was destroyed by the British under Tarleton. The record of the deed to these two lots is said to have been of the date of March 5, 1743.
There is no record of the completion, or first use of this church. But by December 7, 1741, the Falls Chapel seems to have been abandoned; John Eals, its reader, and Eleanor Williams, its sexton, had been transferred to this church; and everything here was in full blast. The only thing left for us to suppose is that this church was completed at the date called for by the contract, June 10, 1741. Probably the erection of this church had rendered the Falls Chapel un necessary.
The lines of the church then erected are easily distinguish- able. The present transepts lie exactly with the points of the compass. They formed the eastern and western ends, respec- tively, of the original church. Imagine the northern sides of the two transepts connected. The old church would thus be enclosed. All the portion of the present church lying north of that imagined line, or, in other words, the present nave of the church, was a later addition. The ceiling in the old church was a foot and two-thirds below the present cornice. The chancel, according to the then prevailing ecclesiastical custom, was in the eastern end. The present pulpit, with its sounding board and the latter's panel, stood there. The pews, of course, all faced in that direction. In the western end was a gallery. It projected as far as the present angle of the transept and the nave. Beneath it, on the south side, was the robing room. On the opposite side of the aisle were the stairs to the gallery and a lumber closet. The gallery was lighted by two small windows. The present are the origi- nal pews, but they have been lowered. Formerly their backs reached to the windows. The hinges are handwrought, and fastened on by nails made in the same way. The wains- coting and the window sash are those first put in. . Any one examining the exterior will easily recognize the original
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ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
weather-boarding. It is thicker and wider than on the newer part of the church, and fastened by nails wrought on the an- vil with heads half an inch broad.
The officers of the church at this time were as follows:
The Rev. William Stith, Minister.
James Powell Cocke, Church Warden.
James Cocke, Church Warden.
Richard Randolph, Vestryman.
John Redford, Vestryman.
Bowler Cocke, Vestryman.
John Bolling, Vestryman.
Edward Curd, Vestryman. .
John Williamson, Vestryman.
John Povall, Vestryman.
Robert Mosby, Vestryman.
William Fuller, Parish Collector and Vestryman.
Peter Randolph, Vestryman.
Sackville Brewer, Reader at Curles Church and Clerk of the Vestry .*
John Eales, Reader at Richmond Church.
John Hobson, Sexton at Curles Church.
Eleanor Williams, Sexton at Richmond Church.
While in charge of Henrico Parish and living in its glebe house Mr. Stith wrote his History of Virginia. He pub- lished it in 1747. It went through the printing and book- binding establishment at Williamsburg, then the only one in the colony. Its exceptional exactness gave its author the reputation of being "the accurate Stith."
In his introduction he suggests a picture, which is a rest- ful contrast to the busy life of the present clergy of this parish. He says that he wrote his history as "a noble and elegant entertainment for my vacant hours."
December 3, 1751, the Rev. Mr. Stith resigned the parish to take effect the first day of the following October. The reason given is that he had been "Chosen Minister of S. Ann's."
But in August of 1752 he was elected President of Wil-
*Richard Rockett was clerk of the Vestry from Nov. 13, 1749, to Dec. 8, 1752. "Rocketts" is said to have been so known from Sept. 27, 1731.
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HISTORY HENRICO PARISH,
liam and Mary College. in it, three years later. He accepted that position, and died The Rev. Rascow Cole declined the offer of the Parish. The Rev. Joseph Bewsher at first accepted the Vestry's unanimous election, but resigned be- fore the date set for his taking charge. This could not have been the well-known Jonathan Boucher, who was tutor to Washington's stepson (young Custis) ; for Jonathan Boucher was only born in 1738, and ordained in 1762. Finally, August 25, 1752, the Rev. Miles Selden was unanimously elected minister. He accepted, to enter on his office the first day of the next October. He was the grandson of John Selden, the first settler of the name, who came to the Northern Neck of Virginia about 1690 .* He was the first cousin of the Rev. Wm. Selden, Rector of Elizabeth City Parish, in 1771.
The arrangement with him was that he should per- form divine service at the Richmond Church once every five weeks. This Church had been called the "New Church," the "Upper Church," the "Richmond Church." Within a few years after its erection it was also spoken of as the "Town Church." How completely the tide had begun to ebb from the neighborhood of Curles is shown by the fact that in 1768 the Vestry recorded the opinion that Curles Church should be removed; and that a committee was appointed to choose a new location. But by 1770 it had been determined simply to repair the old building. The "Wor- shipful Gentlemen of the Vestry" began to hold their sessions at "Richmond Town." The first meeting of the Vestry in Richmond of which we know occurred November 13, 1749, when the Rev. Wm. Stith was present. That care for ap- pearances had been attended to which such a situation de- mands. Eleanor Williams, the sexton, was put to work making curtains. There must needs be imported from Eng- land as quickly as possible-
a
"One Parsons
"Surples, a Pulpit Cushen and Cloth, two Cloths for Reading "Desks, a Communion Table Cloth and a Dozen of Cushens-
*His grandmother was Rebecca, daughter of Sir Jas. Roe. His father was Jos. Selden, proprietor of the estate of Buck Roe. His mother was of the family of Wilson Cary, of Elizabeth City County, Va. He was ordained in London.
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ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
"to be of good Purple Cloth, and the Surples good Hollond, also a
"large Bible and four large Prayer Books."
The Church lot in 1746 had been fenced in with wood. In 1770 it was walled in with bricks four and one-half feet high above ground. The remains of this improvement may undoubtedly be seen in the present Grace street wall and in the lower portion of the Twenty-fifth street wall of the church yard.
By December 8, 1772, it had become necessary to enlarge the church. It is of record under that date that, "It is the Opinion of the Vestry that "An Addition of Forty feet in
"Length and of the same wedth as the "pres't Church at Richmond is be "Built to it, at the North Side with
"a Gallery on both Sides & one End "with proper windows above and below,
"& Order'd that the Chwdns Lett to the "Lowest Bidder the Building the said "Addition."
That improvement was the beginning of what constitutes the present nave. Probably the most valuable testimony as to what constituted the changes now made is that given by the Rev. Prof. Cornelius Walker, D. D., of the Virginia Theo- logical Seminary. He became a Sunday school scholar and an attendant upon the services of St. John's in 1826, and con- tinued so until the time of the changes, in 1830. He de- scribes the building consistently with the action of the Vestry just quoted. The galleries were supported by light columns. He thinks there were two narrow aisles in this new nave, along the outer side of each of which ran the line of gallery columns. But I think the two aisles were introduced in 1830. The original gallery at the west end of the old church remained. Over it also continued the belfry, sustaining a bell. The chancel and pulpit were, of course, removed to the centre of the south side of the old church, so as to face the new nave.
The panel of the sounding board stood up against the wall
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HISTORY HENRICO PARISH,
between two windows. There was as yet no door at the east end of the old church. But on its south side and east of the new position of the chancel was a door with an aisle running across the old church from south to north, where naturally there would have been a space before the original chancel.
There was, I understand from another source, one pew between this aisle and the eastern wall of the transept. This south door opened upon the walk leading up from near the corner of Grace and Twenty-fifth streets. According to Mr. P. R. Carrington, this door was not closed until 1857 or 1859. All the interior woodwork was unpainted, but so smoothly finished as to have the appearance of having been varnished.
Mr. P. R. Carrington is of the opinion that the original communion rail, which extended across the whole eastern end of the old church, remained even after the pulpit had been removed, and that behind this rail the President of the Vir- ginia Convention of 1775 sat, when that body was in session within the building.
Meanwhile the Vestry-book is witness to the fact that the glebe was also kept in good repair and enjoyed im- provements from time to time. Nor by any means was the whole of the spiritual energies of the parish concen- trated in the Richmond Church. Two other chapels had been erected, one at Deep Run, between 1742 and 1745,* and the other, somewhere before 1773, near Boar Swamp, on what is now the site of Antioch Baptist Church, about twelve miles from Richmond, in the direction of the Nine Mile Road. Among the last entries in the oldest Vestry book is the fol- lowing account of the obligations of the Parish :
"At a vestry held at Richmond on Friday the 17th.
Day of Decembr 1773 for laying the Parish Levy. "Henrico Parish. Dr. Lbs. Tob'o "To the Revd Mr. Selden his annual Sal- ary .
.17,150 £125. 1.
"To Wm Street Clk. Deep Run Church. 1,789 13. 0.10
*By deed dated October 1, 1753, and recorded in Henrico County Deed Book 1750-1767, Bowler Cocke, Jr., and Samuel Duval, Church wardens, bought the acre of land on which this chapel was stand- ing from John Shoemaker.
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ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
"To Ja's Sharp D'o at Curls. 1,789
13. 0.10
"To a Salary to p'd to Clk. Richm'd Church
"hereafter to be app'd and to remain in
"the Church Wardens hands 'til such
"appointment
1,789
13. 0.10
"To R'd Trueman Clk Boar Swamp "Church
500
3.12.11
"To the Sexton of Curls Church.
536
3.10. 7
"To R'd Williams Sexton of the town
"Church, and a power granted the Ch.
"Wardens to displace him if they think "fit
536
3.10. 7
"To Jos. E. Freeman who is app'd Sexton
"of Deeprun Ch. in the room of Jos. Ellis
536
3.10. 7
"To Fort's Sydnor Clk. Vestry.
500
3.12.16
"To Ch. Wardens for Ch. Elements. .
300
2. 3.9"
It was while the hand of the Rev. Miles Selden was upon the helm that the fair ship whose course we are tracing en- tered the storm cloud of the Revolutionary War. Thence forward it is lost to view, except for infrequent momentary glimpses, till 1785. All that we know of it are the following facts : Its rector, Mr. Selden, was the chaplain of the Vir -. ginia Convention of 1775. That Convention met in this church March 20th of that year, under the presidency of Edmund Pendleton. This meeting of a political convention in a church was no unusual thing in those days. The first General Assembly, the earliest legislative body in America, had sat with their hats on, after the manner of the English Commons, in the church at Jamestown, July 30, 1619. A member left on record the reason. "The most convenient place we could find to sit in was the quire (sic) of the Church."
At the session of the Virginia Convention referred to as having been held in St. John's Church, Patrick Henry flashed the electric spark, which exploded the colony in revolution. He stood, according to tradition, near the present corner of the east transept and the nave, or more exactly, as it is commonly stated, in pew 47, in the east
t e
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HISTORY HENRICO PARISH,
aisle of the nave, the third one from the transept aisle. He, as we have already seen, faced the eastern wall of the transept, where were then two windows. In the more northern of these stood Col. Edward Carrington. He broke the silence that followed the orator's burning words with the exclamation : "Right here I wish to be buried." The situa- tion of his tomb bears witness to the fulfillment, by his wife, of his request at his death, in 1810.
At last, in 1781, when Richmond had fallen into the hands of Arnold, this sacred edifice was made a barracks for his British soldiery. It must have seemed then to pastor and people that the final word in their parochial history had been written. But Easter Monday, March 28, 1785, brings us to the beginning of a second Vestry book. It is a volume 63x8 inches, bound in leather. It contains on 696 pages the min- utes to April 5, 1887.
From 1785 the history of Henrico Parish will be almost en- tirely localized in Richmond. We must, therefore, take a brief glance at the situation. The town when captured by Arnold is said to have had some three hundred houses. At about this time, when the seat of government was removed hither, the inhabitants, with the exception of two or three families, were Scotch. Their small tenements were scattered here and there between the river and the Hill. Colonel, afterward Judge Marshall, observed that the little cottages looked "as if the poor Caledonians had brought them over on their backs, the weaker of whom were glad to stop at the bottom of the hill; others a little stronger proceeded higher; while a few of the stoutest and boldest reached the summit, which, once accom- plished, affords a situation beautiful and picturesque."
The first record in the second Vestry-book is of an election of twelve Vestrymen, holden on March 28, 1785, at the court- house, in the city of Richmond.
Their names were:
Edmund Randolph, John Ellis,
Jaquelin Ambler, Turner Southall,
Nathaniel Wilkinson,
Bowler Cocke, Miles Selden, Jr., William Foushee, Thos. Prosser,
Daniel L. Hylton,
Hobson Owen, Wm. Burton.
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ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.
On the following Thursday, in this church, the majority subscribed the required promise of conformity and organized for duty. Edmund Randolph and Bowler Cocke were ap- pointed church wardens. They were instructed to recover the church plate and other property, and to open subscriptions for the repairs of the churches and the salaries of sextons. One of these, appointed at this meeting for Richmond, was a woman. It is evident that, besides the Richmond church, those at Curles and at Deep Run were still in existence. But there was no minister.
On the 10th of the following May the Rev. John Buchanan was unanimously chosen by ballot incumbent for the Parish. I am unable to reconcile with this action the statement which is said to have been copied from the Virginia Gazette of 1785, that the Rev. Miles Selden died May 23, 1785, being min- ister of St. John's at the time of his death .* Some question afterward arose whether the election of a minister was war- ranted by the powers then vested in the vestry. So the ves- try, on June 7th, repeated the formality. His duties, with reference to services, were defined to be that he should preach every other Sunday in "Richmond Church," and on the in- tervening Sunday at Curles and Deep Run alternately. Dis- cretion was given him as to the place for celebrating the fes- tival days.
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